How to express opposing ideas in English: despite, although, nevertheless, in spite of...

Published on 23 Jul 2015 | about 1 year ago

www.engvid.com/ Want to know a simple trick that will help you sound more academic in your speaking? This tip can also help you begin writing the introduction to your TOEFL and IELTS essays. In this video, I will teach you the importance of showing the opposing viewpoint in writing and speech. You will learn how to use words like "although", "even though", "despite", "in spite of", and "nevertheless". These words help you effectively introduce opposing ideas or facts in speech and writing. Despite it sounding complicated and fancy, it is quite easy to learn! You can practice your new English skills by doing our quiz at the end of the lesson. www.engvid.com/how-to-express-opposing-ideas-in-english/

TRANSCRIPT

Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you a very good and useful trick on how to write essays, how to sound better when you speak, how to do better in presentations. This tip is very useful if you are taking the TOEFL or the IELTS, or if you are studying in college, university, or high school. Okay? So it's a very, very useful trick. This trick is called... Well, I'm calling it: "How to Start Right". Okay? So I'm going to teach you a great way to start, either in your essays or in your speech.

Oftentimes, if you're taking the TOEFL or the IELTS, you're going to be asked to give your opinion on something. Okay? In general life, you might have to give your opinion on something. Maybe somebody wants to know: what do you prefer? Do you prefer going to a restaurant, or do you prefer eating at home? What's better? Okay?

When you give your opinion, it's a very good idea to start by saying what is good about the opposite opinion. Okay? So, example: if I love restaurants, I want to eat at a restaurant, instead of just saying: "I love restaurants." A better way to start this is by saying the opposite, the good part of the opposite. So, how can I do this? Well, I can say something like: "Although some people love eating at home, I prefer eating at a restaurant." Okay?

Another example. Imagine somebody wants to know if I like cats better or dogs better. What is the better animal? Well, maybe if I like dogs better, I would say: "Although some people prefer cats, I prefer dogs.", "Although some people prefer to live in cold countries, I prefer warm countries." So, you can use this in essays, in speaking, in so many different ways. It's always a good idea to start with the opposite of what you believe, a good point of the opposite, and then to say your opinion. Okay?

So, I want you to try this. Okay? I'm going to give you a question, and I want you to use this formula. What do you prefer, waking up early or waking up late? Okay? So: "Although some people prefer waking up..., I prefer waking up..." and here you would say either "early" or "late". Okay?

So, I've used this word "although". "Although" is to show this contrast. Okay? It's a very, very great word, useful word when you're writing essays or speaking in a formal setting. Something that has the same meaning as "although" is "even though". Okay? So very similar. "Even though". And we can use the same formula. Okay? If I ask you: "Would you rather go to a beach or go skiing?" You can say: "Even though some people love going to beaches, I prefer skiing.", "Even though skiing is a lot of fun, I'd rather go to the beach." Okay? So, again, you're offering the opposite idea first, and then your idea. Great for TOEFL and IELTS speaking.

Okay, so let's look at these sentence structures a little bit closer. So, I have here my words: "Although", "even though". What follows is a subject. A subject can be words like: "some people", can be "he", "she", "we", "the teacher". Okay? So, the subject is pretty much a noun. "Although Canada", okay? "Although Canada", "Even though Canada..." Now you need a verb. "Even though Canada", can use the verb "is". "Even though Canada is a good country", okay, if I was writing now, I would put a comma. "Even though Canada is a good country, Canada has problems."

So what I'm trying to get at here is that if you use "although", you will have two parts of a sentence. You will have part one before the comma, which has a subject and a verb; and then you will have a second part, part two with a subject and a verb. Okay? So let me give you one more example. "Although learning English is fun, many students find it difficult." Okay? "Although some people like learning English, I prefer learning French." Okay? Just some examples of these types of ideas.

So let's look at a couple more expressions to help you show the opposite view. Okay, so let's look at some more words that you can use to show the opposing side. Okay? We can use the word "despite". "Despite" is very similar to "although" and "even though".